France fines Microsoft $64M over advertising cookies

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) – The French data privacy regulator on Thursday said it has fined Microsoft €60 million ($64 million) for violation of regulations about advertising cookies.

The National Commission for Technology and Freedoms said in a statement that it checked the website of Microsoft's search engine Bing following a complaint regarding the deposit of cookies in September 2020 and May 2021.

The regulator noticed that "when users visited the website, cookies were placed on their terminal without their consent while they were pursuing, in particular, an advertising objective."

It also noticed "the absence of a button allowing to refuse the deposit of cookies as easily as to accept it."

The Commission fined Microsoft €60 million, considering the amount of money that the company earns indirectly from advertising using the data collected by those cookies.

This type of cookie can be placed only after the user's consent according to the law, the statement added.

The regulator observed a more complex refusal mechanism of cookies on the website to discourage users from refusing cookies and "encouraging them to favor the ease of the consent button appearing in the first window."

It was considered a process "violating the freedom of consent of internet users."